The United States Fourth Naval Fleet has resumed operations off the Caribbean and the length of Latin America for the first time since 1950, BBC online reports Tuesday.
The US Department of Defense says the measure is aimed at building confidence and trust in the region by focussing on common threats. The fleet will help fight drug traffickers and work on humanitarian and diplomatic exercises. Based in Florida, the fleet will include various ships, including aircraft carriers and submarines.
But some leaders in the region are concerned. Bolivian President Evo Morales has dubbed the initiative the Fourth Fleet of intervention. Cuban former President Fidel Castro has written that the aircraft carriers were a threat that would sow terror.
On the other hand, Washington has become concerned by increasing anti-US rhetoric and the build-up of military forces, especially in Venezuela.
The US Navy also has operational fleets in the Pacific, the Persian Gulf and off the coast of Asia. The Fourth Fleet was created during the Second World War to combat German U-boats targeting merchant shipping lines in the South Atlantic.
But when the war ended the fleet was deemed to be no longer necessary and was disbanded fifty-eight years ago.
